An article in Wednesday's Carroll editions of The Sun incorrectly stated the cost in Westminster of water and sewer service for a household using 14,000 gallons of water. The correct amount is $66.23.The Sun regrets the error.Water and sewer rates are once more on the agenda for the Manchester Town Council, which meets today at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall.Tonight's agenda also includes discussions about a council vacancy, water meters, and a strategic planning workshop.The council has been discussing water and sewer rates for months, however, and it is not clear whether any final decision will be made tonight.

Aberdeen's mayor and city council were looking toward the city's future in a big way Monday night as they presented their take on a proposed water and sewer authority that would combine the Aberdeen, Bel Air, Havre de Grace and Harford County public utilities into one quasi-government governing body. Aberdeen's elected officials also heaped praise on the city's staff - particularly Director of Finance Piribo Jack - for the reaffirmation of the city's AA bond rating, and listened to a presentation about the ongoing plans for a multi-modal transportation hub at the existing Amtrak/MARC train station that could eventually include buildings 12 stories tall.

Proposed water and sewer rate increases would mean both good news and bad news for the county's 28,000 water and sewer customers.For most customers, the good news is that their water and sewer bills would remain the same -- at least until next year. The news would be even better for the roughly 3,600 customers who use less than 6,000 gallons of water each year: Their bills would go down because the new rates would be tied more closely to actual consumption.The bad news is that by this time next year, everyone's bills would have increased slightly -- partly to help cover increased operating expenses and partly to pay for a $46 million upgrade of the Sod Run Wastewater Treatment plant in Perryman.

The idea of having Harford County served by a single governmental entity responsible for providing clean water and treating sewage on the whole is a good one. There are, however, aspects of such a system that deserve close public scrutiny as the water and sewer authority is being established. As the water and sewer authority would be managed by an appointed board that will have the authority to set rates, the general public needs to be assured a level of dominion over the service.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates is considering a proposal to raise water and sewer rates by an average of 16.4 percent for residential customers and up to 40 percent for some large businesses.The proposed increase would affect 1.5 million customers in Baltimore and in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard and Carroll counties -- all of whom share the city's water and waste water system.In all, the increases would bring an additional $18 million a year to the water and sewer system, which is funded separately from other government operations and by law must be self-sustaining.

Anne Arundel County's long-term plan for extending its water and sewer system all but unraveled yesterday as county leaders expressed deep concern about its potential for generating sprawl development.The revised plan, a phone-book sized document that shows where water and sewer service would be added or expanded over the next two decades, has been two years in the making. But when members of the County Council got their first good look at it in a work session yesterday, they were baffled by its failure to clearly identify the specific upgrades and changes that would be made.

Don't fill up that fish tank too many times or let the faucet drip for days and nights. It's going to cost you. After more than a year of study and debate, the Annapolis City Council voted last week to increase water rates by 62.5 percent and sewer rates by 67.7 percent, based on the average usage of 10,000 gallons per quarter. As a result, a resident using 10,000 gallons will pay $32.10 per quarter, as opposed to the old fee of $19.75. Sewer fees jump from $27.65 to $46.39. The change goes into effect immediately.

Havre de Grace has experienced a rebirth of sorts in recent years, with new homes springing up near its revived waterfront promenade-Main Street corridor and with developers erecting thousands of offices and homes around Bulle Rock, a six-year-old golf course that has gained a reputation as one of the best public facilities in the nation. But one city councilman thinks the city may need to slow things down, at least for six months. Concerned that the city's water and sewer systems are approaching capacity, City Councilman Wayne Dougherty has been floating the idea of a six-month moratorium on new development.

IN A WESTERN corner of the Inner Harbor, the Maryland Science Center is celebrating the recent opening of a new $35 million exhibit wing. On Pier 3, the National Aquarium is halfway through an even more ambitious and expensive expansion scheduled to open a year from now. Meanwhile, at the eastern end of the harbor, at the edge of Little Italy, the Baltimore Public Works Museum is hoping to have some exterior lights installed on its pre-World War I...

Take a look at the faucet. The toilet. The clothes washer. The lawn sprinkler. People use these household fixtures day after day and probably don't have a second thought about how the water gets into the home and flushed out.For most homeowners, it's a take-it-for-granted government service: public water, public sewer. Many home hunters won't accept anything else. Yet, buying a home -- usually on large lots -- with a well and septic system doesn't have to be all that intimidating and mysterious.

The City of Havre de Grace is proposing on the May ballot to purchase a residential lot next to the Concord Point Lighthouse. A 3,546-square foot residence presently exists on the property. I am having a problem in understanding the value proposed to be paid as it relates to the benefits to be received by the citizens of Havre de Grace. Yes, it extends the city ownership of waterfront by about 250 feet between the lighthouse and the Heron Harbor Condominiums. However, the direct usefulness of the property to the citizens is questionable.

The average citizen could be forgiven for failing to understand the way taxpayer money gets spent at the state and county level. It's as complex as a spider web, and about as easy to get tangled in. As of this week, Harford County Executive David R. Craig was getting ready to put together a spending plan for the year that begins July 1 (not Jan. 1, as the year does for most of us). His initial citizens input meeting was supposed to have been Monday, but that was delayed because of the weather.

Editor: Question: When is the Development Envelope not the Development Envelope? Answer: When you call it a Mixed Office and allow public water and sewer and lots and lots of buildings, roads and parking lots on agricultural land. What is a Mixed Office? It is a designation made by the County Administration and approved by the County Council to build an Office Park at the Route 543 interchange with I-95 on the rural side of I-95. The actual definition is this: The MO district is designed to promote major economic development opportunities, including corporate offices, research and development facilities and high tech services which create significant job opportunities and investment benefits.

Facing Havre de Grace over the next two years are many issues that have posed challenges to the city for the past several years, notably land development policy, the related matter of water and sewer service finances and the ever-present issue of the degree to which tourism is part of the city's economic base. On May 8, voters in the city will have a choice among seven people - three incumbents and four newcomers to city politics - when they cast ballots to fill three seats on the six-member Havre de Grace City Council.

Annapolis officials are poised to approve spending $12.5 million to start building a state-of-the-art water treatment facility as part of Mayor Joshua J. Cohen's proposed capital budget for fiscal year 2013. The city council has granted initial approval for the project to move forward after considering — and rejecting — an alternative plan for the city to receive its water from Anne Arundel County. The council is expected to approve funding to start work on the new plant when it votes on the budget in the next few weeks.

Our politicians in Aberdeen are back at the wheel, trying to steer residents down a path in which they have no interest. The mayor and City Council had a "retreat" at Ripken Stadium a few weekends ago, where they started to work on their plans to solve the problems here in Aberdeen. Some of the ideas have merit but are approached from the wrong angle. Mayor Michael E. Bennett proposes securing investments for a pub or bar in "downtown Aberdeen" - we can describe this as the area on West Bel Air Avenue between the train tracks - and he explains that we need to eliminate height restrictions for this to happen.

An article in the Nov. 16 edition of The Sun in Anne Arundel about West County developer Warren E. Halle reported incorrectly the amount of money he owed the county in 1992 for school fees and water and sewer connection fees in his Seven Oaks development.The school construction fees were $420,000 and the water and sewer connection fees totaled $4.7 million.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 11/23/97

The Harford County public and municipal elected officials in Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace need to pay particularly close attention three bills on water and sewer issues that are scheduled for hearings before the Harford County Council this Tuesday, March 13, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Though the bills to some degree reflect a move in the general direction of a unified water system for the county, the question whether the county needs such...

Having fallen for the hollow promise of easy residential development money years ago, the Havre de Grace city government is in the unfortunate situation of not being able to pay the debt service on what it has spent to make that development possible. Going back when Havre de Grace embarked upon the building boom that started with Bayview Estates and Grace Harbour, the city was limited in its ability to provide public services - specifically sanitary sewer service - to a large number of new homes.